Liz Anderson talks to David Marr
about Agatha della Pietà
11 August 2026
slide show created by Alex Hedt
with permission from ABC Radio
Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria
is at the Scots’ Church, Melbourne
on Saturday 12 September at 5PM
Archives: Watch/Listen
Gloria, by Antonio Vivaldi
This is the opening of Vivaldi’s ever-popular Gloria, written while Vivaldi was acting as Maestro di Coro at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice.
Agatha’s Cantata, composed by one of the orphans living at the Pietà during Vivaldi’s tenure there is a perfect companion piece.
Book now for Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria
Saturday 5 September at 3PM – Sterling Place Community Centre, DUNKELD
Saturday 12 September at 5PM – Scots’ Church, MELBOURNE
Watch the premiere of Agatha’s Cantata on Australian Digital Concert Hall
Second Movement, Cantata by Agatha della Pietà
The ACC is joined by the String Ensemble of Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello,
directed by Douglas Lawrence
Filmed live in concert at the Pisani Palace, Venice 16 July 2024
Experience this lost cantata live in concert
Buy your tickets now for Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria
in DUNKELD on 5 September and in MELBOURNE on 12 September
Cameras – Bruce Inglis and Rebecca Lena; Sound – Simone Corelli; Production/editing, Rebecca Lena
Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria
Experience a live performance …
Fourth movement, Cantata by Agatha della Pietà
Premiere, filmed live in concert at Palazzo Pisani, Venice, 16 July 2024
Reconstruction by Elizabeth Anderson
Australian Chamber Choir
with the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello String Ensemble
directed by Douglas Lawrence
Buy your tickets now for Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria
in DUNKELD on 5 September and in MELBOURNE on 12 September
Cameras – Bruce Inglis and Rebecca Lena; Sound – Simone Corelli; Production/editing, Rebecca Lena
Fifth movement, Cantata by Agatha della Pietà
Premiere, filmed live in concert at Palazzo Pisani, Venice, 16 July 2024
Reconstruction by Elizabeth Anderson
Australian Chamber Choir, Kate McBride and Katherine Lieschke – Sopranos
with the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello String Ensemble
directed by Douglas Lawrence
Buy your tickets now for Agatha’s Cantata, Vivaldi’s Gloria
in DUNKELD on 5 September and in MELBOURNE on 12 September
Cameras – Bruce Inglis and Rebecca Lena; Sound – Simone Corelli; Production/editing, Rebecca Lena
The Cantata – ‘Ecce nunc’, Finale, by Agatha della Pietà
Premiere, filmed live in concert at Palazzo Pisani, Venice, 16 July 2024
Reconstruction by Elizabeth Anderson
Australian Chamber Choir, Kate McBride – Soprano
with the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello String Ensemble
directed by Douglas Lawrence
A documentary, entitled Agatha’s Story, coming to SBS TV on 11 August 2026, tells of the discovery and reconstruction of this work – the only surviving composition by an orphan of the Ospedale della Pietà – and the ACC’s premiere performances of it.
Cameras – Bruce Inglis and Rebecca Lena; Sound – Simone Corelli; Production/editing, Rebecca Lena
Abendlied, by Josef Rheinberger
A C C 8 directed by Douglas Lawrence
Filmed live in concert
from Mandeville Hall Toorak, June 2020
by 5stream.com
Book your seat now to see this live
as part of Great Romantic Voices
at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park
Sunday 21 June at 3PM
Warum, by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms Motet, Op 74 No 1
Australian Chamber Choir
Directed by Douglas Lawrence
Sound courtesy of ABC Classic FM
Film by Filmoo
Recorded live in concert
at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park
24 June 2018
This is the first work on the ACC’s Great Romantic Voices Program, at 3PM on Saturday 13 June in Dunkeld and on Sunday 21 June in Melbourne
Nimrod, by Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
‘Nimrod’, from the Enigma Variations Op.36
Premiered in London, 19 June, 1899
Arranged by Elizabeth Anderson for 8-part choir
Premiered in Melbourne, 24 June, 2018
Filmed in concert by Filmoo.com.au
Sound courtesy of ABC Classic FM
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park
24 June, 2018
See this live as part of the ACC’s Great Romantic Voices in Dunkeld on Saturday 13 June or in Middle Park on Sunday 21 June, or watch on Australian Digital Concert Hall.
Locus iste, by Anton Bruckner
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER CHOIR
Directed by Douglas Lawrence
This work is on the program for the Australian Chamber Choir’s next concert: Great Romantic Voices on 13 and 21 June 2026.
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In 2024, we embarked on the most ambitious project of the ACC’s 19-year history. As part of our European concert tour that year, we visited Venice to present the modern premiere performance of a 300-year-old Cantata by Agatha della Pietà, who lived at the Venice orphanage where Vivaldi taught. Our documentary, entitled Agatha’s Story, showcasing the ACC on tour in Germany and culminating in Venice, will air on SBS television in August and will then become a part of the international film festival circuit. The documentary, made possible by the generosity of our donors, introduces audiences all over the world to the only surviving work composed by an orphan of the Ospedale della Pietà – an important new piece of music history, with the ACC front and centre.
Like most arts organisations, we find that even in a normal year, income from ticket sales is not sufficient to cover our operating costs. Donations have helped us to pay all our singers for every Australian performance since 2010. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation, so that we can continue to pay our singers, present regional concerts, produce videos and CDs and make plans to continue the journey. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a difference.
Bogoroditse Dyevo, by Sergei Rachmaninov
ACC8, directed by Douglas Lawrence
This Ave Maria is sung in Old Church Slavonic, the language of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic traditions. The setting, by Sergei Rachmaninov comes from his ‘All Night Vigil’, Op.36.
Filmed live at Mandeville Hall Toorak, 28 June 2020,
video courtesy of Australian Digital Concert Hall
Hear this divine music live, as part of the ACC’s forthcoming Great Romantic Voices program.
Sacred, by Bill Neidjie and Tom Henry
Text by Bill Neidjie OAM
Sacred, from ‘Kakadu Man’
Musical setting by Tom Henry
Filmed live in concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
16 July 2019
Video by Wright Medea
Post production by Filmoo
This and other movements from ‘Kakadu Man’ can be heard on the CD, Gold.
Power in Stillness, by Christine McCombe
In July 2024, the Australian Chamber Choir gave eleven performances in Europe. This performance was presented by the Swiss international festival known as ‘Ceresio Estate’, a series of summer concerts in churches around Lake Lugano. European Audiences were fascinated by this new work by Christine McCombe.
Power in Stillness was commissioned by the ACC, and premiered in 2022. In writing this work, Christine was inspired by the concept of Dadirri. Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, artist, tribal elder and Principal of St Francis Xavier School, Daly River in Australia’s far north, explains that the word, from the Ngan’gikurunggurr language, describes “deep listening and silent awareness”.
Christine McCombe’s Power in Stillness is structured to focus the audience’s attention on the silences within the music. The work features on the ACC’s 2024 CD release, Gold.
Ego flos campi, by Raffaella Aleotti
When Raffaella Aleotti published her Sacred Songs in Venice in 1593, she became the first female composer to publish a collection of sacred music.
Ego flos campi
Australian Chamber Choir directed by Elizabeth Anderson
Filmed live in concert at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park on Sunday 17 August 2025
Watch the full Renaissance Requiem concert (including Gordon Kerry’s new Requiem) via Australian Digital Concert Hall.
Alchemy, by Gordon Kerry
This time last year, the Australian Chamber Choir gave eleven performances in Europe. This video was filmed at the Swiss international festival known as ‘Ceresio Estate’, a series of summer concerts in churches around Lake Lugano. European Audiences were fascinated by the Australian works on the program, which included this setting of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet XXXIII, by Gordon Kerry.
Alchemy is the first track on the 2025 CD release, Gold.
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